By Lin Lofley

Hillary Evans

Hillary Evans, a second-year Medical School student and an Albert Schweitzer Foundation Fellow, was presented the 2017 Martin Luther King Scholarship for Community Service in the recent MLK Day Commemoration at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Ms. Evans, now participating in a Clerkship in Family and Community Medicine, grew up in the small West Texas town of Bangs, and earned a degree in biology at Austin’s St. Edwards University before she enrolled at UT Southwestern.

While an undergraduate, she participated in a volunteer program aimed at tutoring nontraditional students who seek their GED. That was the blueprint for the program she initiated in West Dallas in concert with Brother Bill’s Helping Hand, a non-profit agency in that neighborhood that has long sought ways to help.

“Hillary brought with her all the qualities that she had learned in Austin, and she hit the ground running,” said Dr. Drew Alexander, Assistant Dean of UT Southwestern Medical School, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics. He cited Ms. Evans’ work in student-run clinics, in United to Serve, the student-run health fair, and in HPREP, and lauded “her drive to help young people.”

“This is one of my greatest accomplishments, to receive an award in Dr. King’s name,” an overwhelmed Ms. Evans told the audience.

Speaking of the West Dallas volunteer initiative, she said, “I wanted to help these students with the pre-college process in a way that I hadn’t been. I chose West Dallas because I want to show them that they can and should be more than the circumstances they are born into. I spent six weeks with them, and in the end I learned more from them than they learned from me.”

The MLK Service Awards committee also recognized three other finalists for the award:

Daniel Araujo, a fourth-year Graduate School student in the laboratory of Dr. Genevieve Konopka, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience. Mr. Araujo, who majored in biology at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, has long been active in the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, and helped found a chapter of the group at UT Southwestern.

In her recommendation letter, Dr. Konopka said, “I believe that he has demonstrated unprecedented commitment to both campus and community service, while keeping a firm commitment to his research as well.”

Whitney Stuard, a graduate of the UT Partnership in Advancing Clinical Transition (UT-PACT), was recognized for completing 300 hours of volunteer service at places such as The Monday Clinic, and she created a program to make baby wraps for distribution to mothers in underserved communities.

Also recognized, but not in attendance because he is in Singapore working at a clinic there, was Tochi Ajirre, a second-year medical student also active in the Albert Schweitzer Foundation Fellowship program.

In a letter supporting Mr. Ajirre’s nomination, Dr. Angela Mihalic, Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Professor of Pediatrics, pointed to his “significant impact on the community through his passion to serve.”

Mr. Ajirre’s signature project is a student-run smoking cessation program at Calvert Place, a homeless shelter for men. “Smoke Break!” uses a variety of holistic techniques to assist those taking part in trying to break their dependence on nicotine.

Dr. Konopka is a Jon Heighten Scholar in Autism Research.